When are the posters?

All posters will be presented Thursday, June 28 from
4:00-6:30 pm, and again on Friday, June 29 from 4:00-6:30 pm. (See
the conference program.)

You should attach your poster to its assigned easel on Thursday
morning. The posters will be on display in the wings of the talk
halls on Thursday and Friday. Conference volunteers will move them
into position for the actual poster sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoon.

You should remove your poster at the end of the Friday poster
session, as the easels will be carried away on Friday evening.

By presenting many posters simultaneously, we hope to
accommodate a large audience without overcrowding at each poster.
The large number of posters in turn requires a long period for
poster viewing. With a total of 5 hours spanning two receptions, a
conferencegoer can engage with nearly half of the posters for 15
minutes of personalized discussion each. This makes the posters
roughly as visible as the talks, which are split into parallel
sessions.

What will I do at the poster session?

People will come by and expect you to tell them about your work.
In essence, you'll be giving a series of mini-talks to individuals and
small groups. These are more interactive than ordinary talks, and
they may turn into real technical discussion.

Regard your poster as a visual aid that will support you in
these informal talks, just as overhead slides do in a formal talk.
Your poster should also be self-explanatory, as some people will prefer to
study the poster themselves and then ask you questions.
Finally, it should attract passers-by.

You might wander off at times to get food and attend the other
posters. Use your judgment here: few people will come to your
poster when no one is there to present it. If you have co-authors,
then you can take turns.

Do you have any tips on poster design?

There are many
tips on the web. For example, this
site includes visual design advice and links to some good undergraduate
biology posters. Please use large fonts -- for most text, preferably
sans-serif fonts of 32 points and greater.

Remember that you have a paper in the proceedings as well. Thus, while
you want enough visible detail to help you answer questions, it's
not necessary to put every detail on the poster (e.g., don't reproduce
your full bibliography). Like a good talk, a good poster conveys the
essential ideas and results and convinces people to go read the full paper.

What is the physical format?

The maximum usable area on your poster easel is 97 cm wide x 180
cm tall (= 38" wide x 71" tall). But you probably don't want to use
the full height, since your audience would then have to sit on the floor
to read the bottom of the poster. Maximum recommended sizes are A0
portrait at 84 cm wide x 119 cm tall (Europe), or 3 feet wide x 4
feet tall (U.S.).

If you prefer a smaller poster for some reason, we recommend
reducing the height rather than the width. E.g., you could use A1
landscape (Europe), or 3 feet wide x 2 feet tall (U.S.).

The posters should be easily readable at a distance of about 2
meters (= 6 feet).

Proper mounting items (pins) will be provided at the site.

Any unused area on the easel can be optionally used for attaching
handouts.

No additional facilities (such as electrical sockets, tables for laptops or handouts etc.) can be guaranteed to the poster presenters.

The poster easels will be used as double-sided, i.e., two poster presenters sharing one poster easel.

Bring a laser pointer if possible, so that you can point to one
part of your poster without obstructing people's view of other
parts.

How do I produce a poster?

Probably the easiest way is to make a single huge slide in
your favorite graphics or presentation program. For example, in
Powerpoint, you can use "File / Page Setup..." to set the slide
dimensions. Putting everything on one big slide lets you be
very flexible in your layout. It also lets you specify fonts and
images at their true sizes.

You may have access to a poster printer at your institution. If
not, some photocopy shops can print large posters. You can prepare a
file in Powerpoint, PDF, or some other format, and either bring it or
email it to the shop. You may have a choice of papers; for example,
indoor vinyl is attractive, durable and fairly cheap.

Check the printing cost and the maximum dimensions of the poster
printer before preparing your poster. For example, many U.S.
printers will handle 36" wide but not 38".